Iron Master (Shifters Unbound Book 12)

by Jennifer Ashley

  The question was genuine, not mere politeness. Dylan always asked after Peigi and the cubs, his concern true. Dylan was a hard-ass and a control freak, but he also took care of Shifters, even when they might be unaware of it.

  “I’m fine,” Peigi said. “Really.”

  “You don’t have to accept his mate claim, you know. It is your choice.”

  “That news has gone around the world, hasn’t it?” Peigi stood next to Reid, her arm touching his, refusing to shy from Dylan’s gaze.

  Dylan shrugged. “We’re Shifters. We like a good mate claim, hope a sun and moon ceremony is around the corner. Eric was on the phone immediately to my son Liam, who called me …”

  “And Liam’s talking to Shifters all over,” Sean put in. “Bowman in North Carolina, Eoin in Montana, Zander …”

  “Zander?” Graham growled as he approached. “That walking furball? No secret is safe with him.” He gazed up at Tiger, who had remained in the background in silence. “How’s it going, crazy?”

  Tiger took a moment to consider the question. “It is going well. A mate claim is not a secret. That is the point of one.”

  “Fair dues.” Graham nodded at Dylan and Sean, then stepped back as Eric and Diego arrived.

  This meeting was technically between Reid and Dylan, but the others had insisted on standing by as referees. Reid wondered whether they feared what Dylan might do to Reid, or what Reid might do to Dylan.

  Tiger held Peigi with his golden gaze. “Congratulations. My mate told me to tell you, ‘It’s about time.’”

  “I haven’t accepted yet,” Peigi said quickly.

  Tiger looked Peigi up and down in silence. As Dylan began to speak, Tiger mouthed to Peigi, Yes, you have.

  Peigi flushed, but Reid had to switch his focus to Dylan before he could think about what Tiger implied.

  “I’d like you to go back to Faerie,” Dylan said. “As you probably guessed I would ask you to. It’s important.”

  Reid frowned. “Why? To help Cian and the dokk alfar? Or to scout for you and your upcoming war?”

  “Both,” Dylan answered without missing a beat. “You can find out more easily than most which hoch alfar are gearing up, where, and with what. If the dokk alfar have a spelled iron talisman that can stop them, so much the better.”

  Reid didn’t move. “If you mean, when I find the karmsyern I should deliver it to you instead of Cian, you are talking to the wrong man.”

  “I mean no such thing. The karmsyern ought to be returned to Cian and protect the dokk alfar people. I’d never steal something so important.” Dylan stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. “But I might ask to borrow it a while.”

  “I can suggest it to Cian,” Reid said. “He might be amenable. Then again, he might not.”

  “Huh,” Graham broke in. “I bet he tells you to take a flying leap. Why would this dark Fae care about protecting a bunch of Shifters, especially if it means his own people might be mowed down in the meantime?”

  “That’s why I’ll ask,” Reid said. “Not simply take it.”

  Was Dylan disappointed? Hard to tell under his poker face. Dylan liked to get his way. That way usually did a lot of good, but at the same time, he could bulldoze over people to make things go as he planned. Dylan was reasonable enough to know he had to compromise, but at times he’d throw compromise to the wind and be utterly ruthless.

  “What I’m proposing is an alliance with the dokk alfar,” Dylan said, an edge to his voice.

  “I know.” Reid refused to back down. “And I’ll ask. That’s the best I can do.”

  They went silent, matching stare for stare. Dylan was used to Shifters dropping their gazes before him, but Reid wasn’t Shifter. In terms of Reid’s clan, he was no submissive either. He’d not been at the absolute top of his clan, but pretty near. He’d learned never to give in to a leader without long thought about what that leader really wanted.

  Dylan moved his gaze to Peigi. If he expected her to knuckle under, he didn’t know her. This woman could convince Donny and Noelle to clean their rooms and do the dishes, and that took some serious maneuvering.

  “I don’t want to see the hoch alfar come in and overrun us,” Peigi said to Dylan. “But I won’t risk the safety of the dokk alfar either. If the karmsyern can be borrowed—if it can even be found and rescued—then it has to be up to them.”

  “I agree,” Dylan began, but Peigi wasn’t finished.

  “And it isn’t fair to expect Stuart to go in and browbeat them. Stuart is loyal to you, but by his choice, because he likes you and is grateful to you, and Eric and all. But that doesn’t mean he’ll throw the dokk alfar under a bus so Shifters might have an edge in a fight.”

  “The dokk alfar don’t have busses,” Stuart murmured out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Whenever they invent busses,” Peigi said heatedly. “You won’t throw them under.”

  “No.” Stuart’s answer was firm. “I won’t.”

  Dylan regarded them in silence. Rain spattered down, thoroughly wetting Stuart’s hair and dripping into his eyes. The Shifters didn’t seem to notice, but they’d just shake it off. Bears and wolves—and tigers—liked the rain.

  “As I started to tell you,” Dylan said, “Yes, I agree. I’d like it if Cian gave us the damned thing without hesitation, but no, I’m not asking you to submit your own people to slaughter. If I can’t use it, I can’t.” He let out a breath. “But I have to try.”

  “It won’t be enough.”

  Tiger’s voice cut in from behind Dylan. Stuart jumped a little and was satisfied that Dylan jumped too.

  “What did you say, Tiger?” Peigi asked.

  “The karmsyern won’t be enough to stop the hoch alfar.” Tiger spoke steadily, without anger. “They might have discovered its secret, or learned how to withstand it. The hoch alfar want to beat Shifters at all costs. The dokk alfar are a barrier to their power, so they want to destroy them too.”

  Tiger snapped his mouth shut, as though a recording had been clicked off. He resumed his stance of mild impatience, waiting for the meeting to be done so he could go back to his mate and cubs.

  Graham raked a hand through his short, rain-soaked hair. “Whenever the big guy speaks, he’s usually right.”

  “And I listen,” Dylan said. “Even so, the karmsyern could give us an edge. Find it, and talk to Cian about borrowing it. That’s all I’m asking.”

  “Which could get Stuart killed,” Peigi protested.

  Dylan’s look to Peigi was surprisingly gentle. “That’s why I’m asking, Pegs. It’s his choice.”

  Stuart had the feeling that if he, Stuart, refused the task, Dylan would set about finding someone else to recover the karmsyern. A Shifter, maybe, who wouldn’t be as conscientious about talking to Cian before taking it.

  “I’ll think about it,” Stuart said. He already knew he’d go, because he couldn’t risk Dylan doing exactly what Stuart envisioned. His hesitation was only so he could talk to Peigi first.

  “A question for you, Dylan,” Peigi said. She’d stood in close contact with Reid for the entire meeting, her warmth the only thing keeping him from shivering. “Do you have a Shifter in your clan called Crispin?”

  Dylan blinked and then he appeared, if anything, embarrassed. “Crispin,” he said in resignation. “What’s he done this time?”

  “Joined the hoch alfar,” Stuart said. “He was working for a Fae prince.”

  Sean glanced heavenward. “The Goddess go with him. I mean that for when Dad gets his paws on him.”

  “I knew he had run off to Faerie to be a Battle Beast,” Dylan said. “Crispin is a distant cousin, and was always full of stupid ideas. I’d given him up as dead. But I had no idea he’d gone so far as to throw in his lot with a Fae prince.” His lip curled.

  “Right now, he’s Cian’s prisoner,” Peigi said. “Stuart wrapped an iron bar around him.” She smiled rapturously. “It was awesome.”

  Sean laughed. “Ah, Peigi, you’r
e as bloodthirsty as any of us.”

  “Only for asshats,” Peigi said.

  Eric chuckled. “I’ll remember that.”

  “If you decide to return to Faerie,” Dylan broke into the mirth. “Will you bring Crispin back for me? I’d leave him to be offed by dokk alfar or the hoch alfar when he finally pisses them off, but I’d rather take care of him myself. He’s family.”

  “You want a Guardian to send him to dust, you mean,” Sean said, his laughter fading. The Sword glinted, even in the rain. “Leaving his soul to be stolen would be cruel, even if he is an asshat.”

  Dylan shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and didn’t answer Sean. “I’ll wait for your answer, Reid. Meanwhile, it’s bloody cold. Will I be breaking all kinds of protocol if I ask one of you to take me inside for a beer?”

  Peigi strode beside a silent Stuart as they hurried through the rain, heading home. She seethed about Dylan’s demands, plus his assumption that Stuart would be going back to Faerie, but Stuart remained stoic, no emotion on his face.

  They opened the front door, stepping out of the wet, to find all six cubs in the living room with Nell and Shane, the cubs lined up by age. The line was uneven by height because the bear cubs were already taller and bulkier than the wolves, but they presented a united front.

  “The kids have something to say to you,” Nell said, her eyes a mystery. “Got to go. Bye.”

  Shane was nearly bursting with laughter as he gave them two thumbs-up and followed Nell out the door Peigi and Stuart had left open.

  The cubs chorused, “Bye, Aunt Nell! Bye, Uncle Shane!” Shane slammed the door and was gone. Peigi heard Nell’s and Shane’s laughter drifting to them as the two passed the front window.

  Instead of brushing past the cubs to continue wrestling with his own problems, Stuart slid off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack, brushed the rain from his hair, and faced the cubs.

  “What’s up, guys?”

  Peigi hung her jacket next to Stuart’s. She’d been less bothered by the rain but it felt good to be in the warm, dry house.

  “We have something to discuss,” Donny said, his face serious. He nudged Noelle. “You tell them.”

  Noelle stepped forward, a piece of notebook paper in her hands. Donny retreated, as though relieved to leave the confrontation to her.

  “We had a meeting,” Noelle said. “We’ve drawn up a list of reasons why Peigi needs to accept Stuart’s mate claim. Also, we’ve set out a schedule that lets us each have time with you, and you with your cubs when they come, and gives you two alone time so you can form the mate bond.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Peigi’s love for her cubs surged. Noelle, with the brown and blond hair of her grizzly, regarded her so gravely with deep brown eyes, the line of cubs slowly sidling behind her as their point of contact.

  “This is very thoughtful of you. Did Nell help you at all?” Peigi imagined Nell gleefully suggesting adding the part about the mate bond.

  “She helped us with the words when I wrote it down,” Noelle said primly. “But what came out of the meeting was our idea.”

  The other cubs nodded solemnly. Kevin, now behind all the others, said, “We want you to have cubs but not forget about us when you do.”

  “Sweetie.” Peigi knelt on the carpet in front of them, putting herself at their height. “I’d never, ever forget about you. You’re my cubs.”

  Noelle held her paper in front of her as though it were a shield as she addressed Peigi. “Aunt Nell says we can’t expect you to accept the mate claim. But we have places for you to sign for what happens if you do accept the claim, and what happens if you don’t.”

  Stuart remained standing, but his voice was gentle. “May I see? I’m curious as to what happens if we don’t have the mating ceremony.”

  Noelle handed the paper up to him. “Basically everything remains the same, but I think the schedule for spending time with each cub should be imple— implem—” She gave up trying to twist her mouth around the word. “We should do it. There are six of us, so that’s one for each day of the week, plus a day for you and Peigi alone.”

  Stuart folded himself up on the floor next to Peigi, his long leg touching her knee. “You put a lot of consideration into this. I commend you.”

  “We want what’s best for all of us,” Noelle said. She stepped next to Donny, hands behind her back.

  Stuart read through the paper, written in Noelle’s careful hand, turning it over to study the other side before he passed it to Peigi. “Well, I will have no trouble signing this document. Pegs?”

  Peigi’s fingers trembled as she read. While Peigi and Stuart have alone time to form the mate bond, the six current cubs, and any subsequent cubs, will be taken out for pizza and ice cream by Aunt Nell or Uncle Shane.

  “It seems fair to me,” she managed to say.

  Donny and Noelle high-fived each other, and the four littler ones exchanged hugs. They’d been worried, Peigi realized, that she and Stuart would be angry with them. Noelle must have had to talk long and hard to get them to go along with the plan.

  “I used to be in a family,” Stuart said.

  The cubs ceased celebrating and blinked at him. Peigi was surprised as well—Stuart rarely spoke of the family he’d lost, only saying that they’d been killed, nearly every member of them, before he’d been ejected into this world.

  “We didn’t always get along. We fought about a lot of things, and not only in words. My brothers and I … we could fight harder than anyone I knew. With swords and all. But in the end—we were family. We knew that when all was said and done, we had each other’s backs. And we did, right up until the end.” Stuart’s voice caught, and he cleared his throat. “What I’m trying to say is, you are my family. You six, and Peigi, whether she accepts the mate claim or not. I couldn’t ask for a better one. I know you’re worried that without something like this …” he touched the paper Peigi held … “we’ll fall apart, but we won’t. We’re in it for the duration. Together.”

  Peigi’s heart squeezed to a point of pain. “We are,” she agreed. “All of us.”

  Living in this Shiftertown, protecting these cubs from the world, with Stuart at her side, had given Peigi a reason to get up in the morning. She could have easily succumbed to despair when she’d first moved here, knowing herself safe but forgetting how to live.

  The fact that none of the rescuers had truly known what to do with the motherless cubs had made her angry, and from that anger had sprung her compassion, and then love.

  They’d saved her life, they and this man sitting beside her.

  Peigi drew a breath, laid down the paper, and reached for Stuart’s hand, clasping it between hers.

  “Stuart Reid, under the light of moon—wherever it is behind all the rainclouds—and in front of witnesses, I accept your mate claim.”

  For a moment all was silence. The cubs stared, open-mouthed. Stuart looked at her, stunned, his dark eyes at last letting her see into them.

  She read shock in him, fear, hurt so profound she couldn’t understand it—far beyond anything she’d expected. A longing for happiness, coupled with Stuart’s realization he might have found it, and great fear he’d have it taken away.

  Then the room erupted in noise. Six cubs vaulted at Peigi, knocking her to the floor. Hugs and kisses followed, love pouring over her in waves. The cubs hurtled from her to a laughing Stuart—he went down like a father lion with cubs crawling all over him.

  They bounced up, Patrick and Hannah doing a jerking dance that involved fingers pointing at the sky. Noelle whooped, arms in the air, Donny gyrated in place, Kevin imitating him, and quiet Lucinda twirled and twirled, her ponytail in a graceful arc.

  Stuart leapt to Peigi and sent her to the carpet with him on top of her, his mouth seeking hers in a long, hot, and frenzied kiss.

  Peigi woke in the morning, her body light, the urge to sing at the top of her voice strong. She didn’t know any current songs, so she sang ones from he
r childhood. That should have the cubs curious.

  She was alone in her room, had gone to bed alone. She and Stuart had shared the passionate kiss on the floor and then had realized they needed to make dinner for the cubs. Six little ones in the house was a good damper for mating frenzy.

  Peigi showered, dressed, and combed her hair, singing all the way.

  The happiness pouring over her startled her, the back of her mind wondering what was wrong, when the other shoe would drop.

  But she realized as she charged out her bedroom, on the way to the kitchen to start another meal, that she was no longer afraid.

  Peigi halted in the middle of the hall, dazed. She felt about in her mind for the sensations she’d been living with for years. The daily fears—would Miguel find her again? Would she be strong enough to protect the cubs from him, or any other Shifter? Or Shifter Bureau? Would Stuart run away screaming if the cubs asked him one more time to teleport?

  She’d feared Stuart didn’t care for her the way she’d started to care for him. That he stayed with her only to make sure the cubs were okay, the natural concern of the rescuer for the rescued. Or because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.

  Last night when she’d made the leap of accepting the mate claim, throwing off the ropes of uncertainty and diving into the unknown, she’d cut the last knot that tied her to fear.

  She loved Stuart Reid, and she wasn’t afraid to let the world know.

  Peigi resumed her light-footed dance to the end of the hall. Before she could emerge to the kitchen, Stuart came out of it to meet her at the end.

  “Morning,” she said, smiling.

  He slid arms around her, and she him, gathering him in for a long, tangling kiss.

  Peigi tasted a bite of coffee and his spice, the goodness that was him. Stuart’s strong arms cradled her, protecting her from the world. But not binding her. That was the difference.

  Heat ran in a fiery tingle from Peigi’s heart to pour through her body. One day soon, she’d let her full mating frenzy come out to play, and satisfy every craving she’d buried for too long. Maybe then Stuart really would run away screaming.